


Ornate

by somethingsintheair



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Shenanigans, baby's first CR fic, because there's like no context and i'm on episode 8, caleb is A Dad, probably takes place during the first couple eps, spoiler free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 13:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18700276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsintheair/pseuds/somethingsintheair
Summary: “That purple one’s very handsome, isn’t he?”Caleb glanced up from his book. “Pardon?”“The tiefling,” Nott said, “He’s very… ornate.”





	Ornate

**Author's Note:**

> hey all! this is my first critical role fic ever, and honestly my first step outside my main fandom in quite a while. i'm really new to the series, but i'm in love with the characters already, so i'm hoping to write some more stuff!
> 
> please excuse any details or characterization or whatever i might've gotten wrong, like i said i'm a solid 50+ episodes behind fjdks

To say that Nott was acting strange wasn’t to say anything out of the ordinary. Caleb had come to accept that she was simply an odd little creature. But he wasn’t one to complain-- she certainly made an interesting companion.

Lately, however, she’d been acting… stranger than usual. It was clear to Caleb that adding all those people to their party left Nott awfully cautious, not quite as talkative as usual. For a while, she did a lot more observing than conversing, trying to get a read on everyone else. But there was one person in particular she was observing quite a bit, and that was a tiefling by the name of Mollymauk.

The others may not have picked up on it; the glances from under her hood, the pauses in her speech whenever she looked his way. But Caleb noticed-- for a rogue, Nott wasn’t being very subtle.

One night, the tiefling in question came up in conversation, and Caleb wasn’t even the one who initiated it. Nott had been lying still in bed for so long, he had assumed she was sleeping until she spoke up.

“That purple one’s very handsome, isn’t he?”

Caleb glanced up from his book. “Pardon?”

“The tiefling,” Nott said, “He’s very… ornate.”

Caleb chuckled. “I suppose he is. Circus folk tend to be as such.”

Nott didn’t reply, simply turned onto her opposite side, presumably her way of ending the conversation. Caleb just smiled as he returned to his reading.

At that point, it was painfully obvious. Nott the Brave had a little crush.

Naturally, Caleb was exhausted from the long day behind him, so a nice little distraction was certainly welcome. He wasn’t expecting this to go anywhere, really; Nott didn’t seem like one for serious romance, and Mollymauk seemed a little too… snobby, perhaps, to go for someone like Nott. Any feelings she had would likely fade soon enough, but still, Caleb found the idea amusing. A little cute, even. He went to bed in a much more pleasant mood than he’d woken up in.

And then some time later, he woke up incredibly abruptly and in a very disruptive manner.

It was a knock on the door that pulled him from his sleep-- more specifically, a pounding. He jolted up into a sitting position, already in a panic, and promptly realized Nott wasn’t there anymore, which sent him into even more of a panic. He flew out of bed to get the door, and it took his tired brain a solid ten seconds to process the sight before him.

The first thing he noticed was Mollymauk standing before him, sans cloak, with a hint of a smile on his face. The second thing he noticed was Nott standing beside Mollymauk, his hand sitting atop her head-- no, no, it wasn’t just sitting there. He was holding on, as if he’d used the grip on her head to guide her there. Nott was pouting like a child.

“Sorry to bother you, but I believe this one is with you?” Molly said. Why was he smiling? He looked amused, almost.

“I… I don’t...” Caleb stuttered for a moment, baffled and way too tired for this shit.

“I woke up to something tugging on my horns, and caught her trying to snag one of my charms.” Molly reached up to tap on the crescent moon charm dangling from his horn.

Caleb let out a long, deep sigh as he looked back down at Nott. “Why?”

“Well… if it makes any difference, I didn’t think I’d get caught,” Nott replied, “No one would know it was me. No harm done.”

Mollymauk scoffed. “I’m not a very heavy sleeper, you know,” he said. “Not so easy to steal from.”

“Yes, well, I doubt this will happen again,” Caleb said. He reached out towards Nott, ushering her back into the room. “Didn’t we just have a talk about stealing from our allies?”

“To be fair, I did plan on giving them back,” Nott said, probably lying. “Eventually.”

“Sure, sure,” Caleb replied. “I’m sorry about all this, Mollymauk. Have a nice evening.”

“Mm, both of you, as well.” Despite all the trouble, Molly chuckled as he closed the door to their room.

Caleb turned on his heel to face Nott, his arms crossed. “You know, I’ve seen you staring at him, a lot more than the others,” he said, “I know what’s going on. That’s no way to express your feelings for someone, you don’t just steal things off of them.”

“What are you talking about?” Nott frowned. “I think stealing from someone is a perfect way to express my feelings about wanting their shit.”

Caleb sighed. “You know what I mean, Nott, you--” He paused, taking a moment to process what she’d said. This was… Nott he was talking to. Nott, who had an affinity for shiny things, and had been staring at Mollymauk… who was covered in shiny things. It hit him rather quickly that this was not a romantic crush, but in fact, just a plain old desire to steal someone’s personal belongings.

“You know, let’s just… go back to bed. It’s been a long day.”

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think (but no spoilers please)! i may or may not write a second part, i have a vague idea in mind. if you wanna say hello or hear about the dumb space nerds i usually write about, you can check out my tumblr @ [somethiingsintheair](https://somethiingsintheair.tumblr.com/).


End file.
